Review of International Political Economy 2(1) Winter 1995: 27-61 The 'Long Night of the First Republic': years of clientelistic implosion in Italy Stefano Guzzini ABSTRACT Several analysts have explained the end of the postwar political system in Italyas an effectof the end of the Cold War. Deprivedof the anti-communist glue, Italianswere, so the story goes, finally free to replace the corrupted regime.The presentarticle argues instead that the recentchangesshould be seen as the effectof transnational and societaldynamicson modernwelfare states that have upset the consociational/clientelisticbargain on which Italy's domestic political economy rested. The success of the judiciary campaignmani pulite ('cleanhands')has been triggered by the concomitant financial crisis of the state, its partiesand principal Italian industrieswhich undermined the major actors' abilityto uphold theirclientelistic systems. Such a thesis presupposes a methodological shift away from simple 'outside-in' explanations. It focusesinsteadon the interaction betweendiffer- enttransnational and/or societal self-sustaining networks whose borders need not necessarily coincide with stateborders. In the present context of rampant globalization, the innerdevelopment and linkagebetween the partysystem, the welfare state, organizedcrime and the Italian version of capitalism are analysedas the main articulations of the overt/covert orderupon which the Italian postwar social contract rested. As long as thebasic problems of thiscon- tract remain unsolved,as for instance the insufficient distinction betweenthe politicaland economicsphere or the systematic application of double stan- dards,it seems premature to talkabouta SecondItalian Republic. KEYWORDS Political economy; international relations; Italy; clientelism; legitimacy crisis;welfare state;party-system; family business;organized crime. In an astounding acceleration of events since 1990, the familiar postwar Italian political landscape has collapsed in ruins. Large sections of the eco- nomic and political elite have been arrested. Political and economic top leaders are under investigation, both in and out of jail. In addition, the bureaucratic organization has been restructured. Referenda have abro- gated entire ministeries (the ministries of Agriculture and of Tourism)' and ? 1995Routledge0969-2290